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When Pat Kucera’s nearly 20 years in the radio business came to an end, he did what most other people would do. He started looking for another job.

But Kucera, of Tomah, wasn’t looking for just any job. He was looking for something he had a passion for. A few years later, he opened Diggity Dog Daycare, which was the first dog daycare in La Crosse.

“I was looking for a passion, and I’ve always loved dogs,” Kucera said. “I had a bit of an epiphany one day at a dog park in Madison. I was talking to a man who took his dog to a daycare, and I looked at the dogs and they just had that look, and I knew that was what I would do.”

Diggity Dog Daycare has 20-30 clients. It features room indoors and outdoors for dogs to play, nap and build social skills. Safety of the dogs is a major emphasis for Kucera, who said that every dog that comes through his doors must fit a criteria.

“Being a dog owner most of my life, I still needed to learn about how they interact,” Kucera said. “When dealing with animals, it is almost like kids. These are family dogs, and they are like kids to these clients. We watch out for certain conditions, and test the dogs prior to taking them in. We won’t take real aggressive dogs.”

Kucera’s dog daycare was the first of its kind in the La Crosse area. For Kucera, that represented both an opportunity and a challenge.

“A lot of it is marketing a new concept,” Kucera said. “A lot of people think we run a kennel, but we don’t do over-nights. In Madison, dog daycares are part of society, but here many people haven’t heard of them.”

Since opening, Kucera has seen growth and success. Diggity Dog Daycare hosts the area’s first dog pool swim, called the Diggity Dog Dip. It is held in the Onalaska public swimming pool on Labor Day weekend, after the swimming pool season is over. The daycare also made national news when a pair of Yellow Labs had a surprise reunion at the daycare.

The Yellow Labs named Cooper and Levi were brothers that had been adopted from the Coulee Region Humane Society by separate families. Originally named Wallace and Grommet, the dogs went their separate ways in June of 2006.

After both dogs were coincidentally brought to Diggity Dog Daycare, Kucera noticed the two dogs would play with each other a lot, and one of the dogs’ owners wondered if the two were brothers. They later found out that the two dogs were indeed the separated brothers, and the story was picked up by the ABC, CBS, and Fox networks, among others. National Geographic Magazine also featured Cooper and Levi on the centerfold of the February edition.

“I was surprised,” Kucera said of the reunion. “Just the fact that we were able to figure it out surprises me. When Cooper’s owner first questioned the idea of the those two being brothers, my reaction was, ‘Well, they are both just Yellow Labs.’”

Diggity Dog Daycare continues to grow and become more well known in the La Crosse area, and Kucera said that he never has a day that he doesn’t want to go to work. He has found his new passion.

“I love this so much more than working in a corporate setting,” Kucera said. “Every dog has its own separate personality, and every day is different.”